
Checking and refilling levels229
Safety First
Operating instructions
Tips and Maintenance
Te c h n i c a l D a t a
However, if the level goes down noticeably in a short time, or drops below the
“MIN” mark, there may be a leak in the brake system. A display on the instru-
ment panel will warn you if the brake fluid level is too low
⇒page 72.
WARNING
Before opening the bonnet to check the brake fluid level, read and observe
the warnings ⇒page 215.Changing the brake fluid
The Maintenance Program indicates the brake fluid change
intervals.We recommend that you have the brake fluid changed by an Authorised
Service Centre.
Before opening the bonnet, please read and follow the warnings ⇒ in
“Safety instructions on working in the engine compartment” on page 215 in
“Working in the engine compartment”.
Brake fluid absorbs moisture. In the cour se of time, it will absorb water from
the ambient air. If the water content in the brake fluid is too high, the brake
system could corrode. This also considerably reduces the boiling point of the
brake fluid. Heavy use of the brakes may then cause a vapour lock which
could impair the braking effect.
It is important that you use only brake fluid compliant with the US standard
FMVSS 116 DOT 4. We recommend the use of Genuine SEAT brake fluid.
WARNING
Brake fluid is toxic. Old brake fluid impairs the braking effect.
•
Before opening the bonnet to check the brake fluid level, read and
observe the warnings ⇒page 215.
•
Brake fluid should be stored in the closed original container in a safe
place out of reach of children. There is a toxic risk.
•
Complete the brake fluid change according to the Maintenance
Program. Heavy use of the brakes may cause a vapour lock if the brake fluid
is left in the system for too long. This would seriously affect the efficiency
of the brakes and the safety of the vehicle. This may cause an accident.Caution
Brake fluid could damage the paintwork. Wipe off any brake fluid from the
paintwork immediately.
For the sake of the environment
Brake fluid must be drained and disposed of in the proper manner observing
environmental regulations.
WARNING (continued)
altea_XL ingles.book Seite 229 Donnerstag, 13. September 2007 10:36 10

Technical data279
Safety First
Operating instructions
Tips and Maintenance
Te c h n i c a l D a t a
Te c h n i c a l d a t aChecking fluid levelsFrom time to time, the levels of the different fluids in the
vehicle must be checked. Never fill with incorrect fluids, to do
so may cause serious damage to the engine.
Radiator expansion tank
Windscreen washer fluid reservoir
Engine oil filler cap
Engine oil dipstick
Brake fluid reservoir
Vehicle battery (underneath the cover)
The checking and replenishment of the service fluids are carried out on the
components mentioned above. These operations are described in the
⇒ page 215. Overview
Further explanations, instructions and restrictions on the technical data are
contained as of
⇒page 275.
Fig. 210 Diagram for the
location of the various
elements
A1A2A3A4A5A6
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Index
306Brake system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Brake servo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Brakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Brakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Braking distance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Bulb changes general notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Bulb defect warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Buzzer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117, 163CCar care Exterior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Car care products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Catalytic converter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
CD changer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Central locking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Automatic speed dependent locking and un-locking system* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Emergency unlocking system . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Locking system for invo luntary unlocking . . 95
Selective unlocking system* . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Central locking button Central locking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
unlocking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Central locking system Automatic speed dependent locking and un-locking system* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Centre arm rest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Cetane number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Changing gear
See Manual gearbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Changing the lamps Main headlight lamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
rear lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Changing the main headlight lamps dipped beam lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
main beam lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Side lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
turn signal lamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Changing the rear light lamps Position light, fog ligh t and rear light on the
tailgate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Changing the rear lights Indicator, side and brake lights on the bodywork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
luggage compartment lights . . . . . . . . . . . 266
Changing windscreen wiper blades . . . . . . . . . 226
Chassis number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
Checking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Checking battery electrolyte level . . . . . . . . . . 231
Checking engine oil level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Child safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Child seat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Categorisation in groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Group 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Group 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Group 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Groups 0 and 0+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Safety notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Securing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Child seats ISOFIX and Toptether systems . . . . . . . . . . . 52
on the front passenger seat . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Cigarette lighter* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Cleaning alloy wheels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Cleaning and caring for your vehicle . . . . . . . . 201
Cleaning chrome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Cleaning cloth seat covers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Cleaning dash panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Cleaning engine compartment . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Cleaning fabric trim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Cleaning leather . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Cleaning plastic parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Cleaning seat belts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Cleaning steel wheels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Cleaning windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Cleaning wooden trim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Climatic* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Climatronic General notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Clothes hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Cockpit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Control Light switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Control lamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Control lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
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Index
308Emission control system
warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Engine Running in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Engine compartment Working in the engine compartment . . . . . 215
Engine coolant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Engine fault Warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Engine management Warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Engine oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218 Changing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Checking level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Oil properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Topping up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Engine oil dipstick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Engine oil pressure Warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64, 78
Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Environmental friendliness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Environmental tip Avoiding pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
ESP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81, 183
Example of menu use Open the configuration menu . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Program a speed limit warning . . . . . . . . . . 67
To activate and deactivate the speed limit warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Examples of menu use
Open the main menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Open the winter tyres menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
To close the winter tyres menu . . . . . . . . . . 68
Exterior mirrors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
FFastening rings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Fire extinguisher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Floor mats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Fog lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
folding table* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Folding the seat backrests down . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Four-wheel drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Freetrack towing eye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
Front airbags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Safety notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Front interior light type 1 Switching light off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Switching light on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Front interior light type 2 Switching light off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Switching light on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Front passenger airbag deactivation . . . . . . . . . 44
Front reading lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Front seat adjustment Lumbar support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Fuel
Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Petrol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Fuel level Indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Fuel reserve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Fuel Tank Opening the fuel tank flap . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Fuel tank See Fuel reserve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Fuel: save . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Fuses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
GG 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Gear shift pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
General overview of the engine compartment 279
Glove compartment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Glow plug system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 Warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81HHandbrake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173Warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77, 173
Hazard warning lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
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